10 Structural Installations by Snøhetta, MADWORKSHOP, and others at the ECC's 'Time Space Existence' Exhibition at Venice

Written by Claire Brodka
Published on June 14, 2023

In parallel to this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, The European Cultural Centre (ECC) presented the sixth edition of its extensive architecture exhibition titled Time Space Existence. The 2023 iteration of the group show draws attention to expressions of sustainability in its numerous forms, ranging from a focus on the environment and urban landscape to the unfolding conversations on innovation, reuse, community, and inclusion. A total of 217 projects by established participants like Snøhetta or MADWORKSHOP and emerging players such as Urban Radicals or ACTA are currently on show through the 26th of November, 2023, at Venice's Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and Marinaressa Gardens.

In response to climate change, the installations on show investigate new technologies and construction methods that reduce energy consumption through circular design and develop innovative, organic, and recycled building materials. Participants also address social justice by presenting living solutions envisioned for displaced communities and minorities, while others examine the tensions between the built urban environment and the nature surrounding it to identify opportunities for coexistence.

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One major focus of this year's exhibited projects is a confrontation with structure. By questioning traditional craftsmanship and its evolution with modern technologies, several installations tackle the themes of innovation and sustainability by presenting designs that are a result of mediation and dialogue between old and new construction techniques.

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For their entry, Niger- and Zurich-based office ACTA teamed up with civil society organization Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli to rethink a piece of social architecture. The Classe Rouge is a prototype of an innovative classroom designed to meet the growing need for new quality school infrastructure in Niger. The arched shape, based on the geometry of the parabola, and the use of stabilized and compressed earth bricks (SCEB) allow the construction of a bio-climatic classroom adapted to the increasingly hot Niger climate. In addition, the introduction of a construction system based on mobile formwork makes construction competitive in terms of both time and cost. Another arched structure in the 2023 Time Space Existence exhibition is the result of a collaboration between Princeton University and SOM. Taking inspiration from key works of art and engineering, their Angelus Novus: The Messenger of Innovation installation builds on Brunelleschi’s engineering innovation of the self-supporting dome for the Florence Cathedral while presenting a novel approach to construction that harnesses new technology: a vault built by hand, using an augmented reality interface to guide the placement of each brick.

The use of brick continues at Marinaressa Gardens with Urban Radicals' entry – one that joins forces with material researchers Local Works Studio and design engineers AKT II and addresses both climate change in the city of Venice and the evolution of organic building materials. Each time the Venetian canals are dredged approximately 500m3 of silt is collected, with the least polluted sediment disposed of on the shores of an uninhabited island, 2.5km from Venice. Urban Radicals' pavilion manifests the potential of using this waste sediment in the form of a low-carbon brick structure that speculates on the importance of forming closed-loop systems for our cities in a time of climate emergency. Takaaki Fuji, Hiroya Inage, and De Yuan Kang take the idea of waste adaptation even further with their Japanese Teahouse installation VENETI-AN (庵), a collaborative effort aimed at invoking thoughts on culturally and environmentally responsible construction solutions. Biological waste like pasta, coffee, cork, and paper is used as building materials for the structure, resonating principles of circularity and the pursuit of regenerative and local design.

Snøhetta also approached their exhibition contribution with a mind for locality, specifically the installation's site within the Marinaressa Gardens. Within the densest grove of trees with views of the lagoon, the studio has created Counterbalance, a collective furnishing that is, at once, a bench, a seesaw, a room, an instrument, an artifact, and a folly. Its design and the garden space it creates make the themes and dichotomies of balance and instability as well as rising and falling apparent. Opposite the playful piece in the garden that's just a stone's throw away from the main Giardini exhibition, MADWORKSHOP teamed up with Gigante AG to showcase another structure that juxtaposes human interaction and mechanical precision. The award-winning Arroyo Bridge was designed by students and built by robots – an experiment in merging architectural coordination, robotic fabrication, and the creative possibilities of structure becoming form. The bridge itself has been built in California and spans a 25m canyon. A sculpture is reproduced for the Venice exhibition, and Arroyo Bridge Section (8.5m x 3.9m x 4.4m) offers a link between craftsmanship and machine-made objects; its asymmetry and structural complexity.